Israel: Insert Drugs, Via Teeth?

Whether you like them or hate them, taking prescription drugs is a daily reality for tens of millions of individuals "roaming" our planet.

Unfortunately unless one has a built in calendar in their brain, remembering exactly when to take your medicine (not to mention the amount) can be an annoying, especially if one has a busy schedule.

But it looks as if a new device positioned between your teeth could help deliver the drugs your body needs, without heavy dependence upon the brain--or a calendar.

(Israel 21^st Century) Dr. Erella Pines developed a tiny container that could be attached to the teeth to provide a continuous supply of a calcium formulation that would dissolve into the saliva and circulate among the teeth, protecting them from damage. [...]

Together with Engelberg, the Calcident inventors decided to apply the device to the slow-release delivery of pharmaceuticals. They focused first on improving the way that AIDS and cancer patients receive a drug to alleviate the severe mouth sores caused by AIDS or chemotherapy.

The current approach is to give the patients the drug, known as Clotrimazole, which sells for over $600 million a year, in medicated lozenges five times a day.

"Instead of having to constantly take the medicated lozenges throughout the day, they will simply insert the Calcident disposable container once a day," Engelberg tells ISRAEL21c.

Although this innovative device by Calcident is still going though "beta testing" (which means its not available to the public yet), doctors may fall in love with this medical feature as it would help eliminate the "oh, I forgot to take my medicine this morning" excuse from patients.

Hopefully they will find a way to deliver insulin through this device as well, as it does provide a better alternative than "the needle."

Image Credit: Bernard Dichek, via Israel 21^st Century

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